Cigarette package



June 28, 1932. STRAUSv 1 1,864,872

CIGARETTE PACKAGE Filed Oct. 12'. 1929 INVENTOR, I Harrg H. Srraus BY gv/ 1 HIS A RNEYS Patented June 28, 11%32 HARRY H. STRAITS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

CIGARETTE PACKAGE Application filed October 12, 1929. Serial No. 399,203.

This invention relates to an improved packagemade up of thin fibrous material with no inherent stifl'ness combined with a layer of stifi'er material which will impart rigidity and resistance to distortion to the package for the purpose of protecting the contents and which is so formed and shaped and combined with the layers possessing little inherent stitl'ness to furnish a convenient means for tearing away a portion of the package to permit the removal of the contents.

And it is still a further object to produce an opening which will allow the removal of a small number of the units contained in the '1 package but is' so small and is placed in such a position that enough of the package remains to offer substantial protection to the remainder of the contents. The opening in the package is so shaped as to give it a pleasing configuration, so that the general impression conveyed to the eye is one of neatness.

Articles which are sold for a nominal price are often placed in paper packages which insufficiently protect the articles themselves against crushing or other forms of distortion. For instance, in packaging the more popular brands of cigarettes, a paper and tinfoil cover is used to protect the contents. When the package is full, and before it' is o )ened, the cigarettes themselves, be-

cans'e t ey are tightly bundled together otter some resistance to crushing and distortion, but even under these conditions this resistance is not very greatand often the contents 5 are crushed or broken before the package is opened. -After part of the contents have been removed the resistance of the tightly packed bundle is reduced to the resistance of a few loosely packed'cigarettes in a paper 40 cover and there'mainder of-the cigarettes are often either partlyor wholly crushed before they may be entirely consumed b'y the user- "'fliecause"of'this undesirable condition, certain,man'ufacturershave been quite successiulin;rn'arketing'stiff leather receptacles for receiving a' package of cigarettes and wh ich 1servetoprotect the cigarettcs until the last one'isconsumed, but these receptacles are heavy and inconvenient to "carry and use.

-Manufacturers of the more expensive brands overcome this diliiculty by selling their, cigarettes in cardboard boxes, but these boxes are too expensive to be commercially practicable for the more popular brands, and so it is still a further object of this invention to combine with a cheap, light weight paper package a stiffening means which will be inexpensive to produce and apply to the package and which will furnish suilicient resistance to preserve the contents of the package until the contents are entirely consumed.

I have shown my invention as embodied in a package of cigarettes but do not wish to be limited to cigarettes or tobacco products inasmuch as this particular type of package may be utilized for many commodities.

l. have also shown the aperture or opening in one corner of the package, as this seems to be a convenient way of extracting cigarettes, but I wish it to loo-understood that some other part of a package may be removed and furnish an aperture or opening for the removal of the contents if this is found desirable.

l*urther features and objects of the invention will. be more fully understood from the following detail description ofthe accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a perspective view of a package 05 I 80 cigarettes embodying my invention an shown as it would be sold to a retail customer.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the tinfoil cover of the cigarettes torn away at the aperture defined by the stiffening member and the outer paper cover.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the stiffening member in the form of a blank before it is applied to the package of cigarettes. v

Looking at the drawing, P. illustrates a package of cigarettes embodying a stifl'ening member S. 'Ihecigarettes are wrapped in tinfoil cover 1 usually made up ofa layer of tinfoil and an inner layer of'very'thinpaper: the-means and the methodot wrapping formno part of this invention? and is well 'known to the art, and hence is not described herein more particularly. l

Upon the exterior of this tinfoil wrapping is placed thestiti'ener member S which can best be described by reference to the. embodi ment illustrated in Fig. 3. The illustrated embodiment comprises four side portions 3 and 1 adapted to cover the wide sides of the package of cigarettes, portions 5 and 6 adapted to cover the narrow sides of the package portions 5, 4 and 6 respectively. when the flap 9 is folded along line 13 at right angles to wide side portions 4. A similar flap 15, but not as long as flap 9. is hinged to the top of wide side portion 3 and is adapted to be folded down along line 16 to cover part of the top of the package and flap 15 is preferably equipped with an auxiliary flap 1? adapted to fit down between the upper end of wide side portion 4 and the tinfoil inner covering over the cigarettes.

Stifiening member S possesses a substantially V-shaped notch X on the upper side thereof defined by line 22 extending from one of the hinged corners of flap 15 downwardly to a point on one edge of narrow side 5. thatis point 21. as seen in Fig. 3 and by a line 20 extending from point 21 upwardly across the upper portion of narrow side 5 to the junction of lines 28 and 21 which form respectively a common edge for sides 4 and 5 and an upper edge for side at. 'lfen stiffening member S is folded around tinfoil cover 1, the outer cover usually made of thin paper and adapted to receive various designs and markings, such as names, trade-marks, and direction. may be applied to stiffening member S in the usual way. except that a notch must be removed therefrom so that the outer cover will coincide with the notch X of the stiffening member S leaving the tinfoil cover exposed as shown in Fig. 1. If desired the outer covermay be omitted and the markings placgd upon the outside of stiflening mem- The usual revenue stamp R may be utilized to seal the tinfoil cover, the stiffening mem her and the outer paper cover together and may be placed adjacent to notch N so that it must be torn in removing the tinfoil cover which covers the aperture defined by notch N and the upper side of the package when the purchaser of the package of cigarettes desires to open it. A convenient way of doing so is to insert the thumb nail under flap 30 of the tinfoil cover and tear the revenue stamp toward and along the edge of flap 15 of stifi'ening member S and then backwardly. looking at Fig. 1. along the edge of flap 15 of stifi'ening member S to the rear edge of package P,

that is, edge 31, and then to the left on edge. 31 and downwardly along the diagonal line 20 defined by the stifiener S. The remainder of the tinfoil many now be torn forwardly along the edge of the flap 15 to the upper end of line 22 and then downwardly along line 22 to meet line 20 when it can be disengaged.

It will be noted that the opening defined is large enough to remove the cigarettes conveniently and still it does not remove the entire top of the package so that the cigarettes will spill out into the pockets of the user. The stiffener member S will tend to hold the package in its proper shape and form to protect the contents.

The stitiening member is also. advantageous in holding in place the cigarettes which are packed between top 15 and bottom 9 after the package has been opened and the cigarettes immediately below the opening removed because the remaining cigarettes stay wedged between the top 15 and bottom 9 and will not slide out under the opening in the package to drop out and be lost or crushed. In fact a sharp tap is generally necessary to loosen the cigarettes sufficiently to allow them to fall out and by proper regulation of the intensity of the tap one or two cigarettes may be disengaged to fall forward under the opening while the remainder stay in place under the top 15 where they are fully protected.

'hereas, I have described my invention by reference to specific forms thereof, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim 1. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent st-ifi'ness, said material extending substantially completely about all sides of the package and at the top end. said package further comprising a. stitfening member associated with said material at said sides and at said topend to impart strength and rigidity to the package, said stiffening member having contour edges extending atan angle relative to one another, said contour edges being disposed at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges being disposed adjacent to one edge of said top end and at two adjacent sides of the package whereby upon grasping and. tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stifl'ness adjacent said top edge said contour edges serve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said package, said stiffening member having contour edges extending at an angle relative to one another, said contour edges being disposed at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges being disposed adjacent to and about one edge of said top end and at two adjacent sides of the-package whereby upon grasping and tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stiffness adjacent said top edge said contour edgesserve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said stifiening member to said material.

3. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stifiness,

said material extending substantially completely about all sides of the package and at the top end, said package further comprising a stiifening member associated with said material at said side and at said top end to impart strength and rigidity to the package, said stiffening member having contour edges extending at an angle relative to one another, said contour edges being disposed at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges being disposed adjacent to one edge of said top end and at two adjacent sides of the package, one of said contour edges being substantially rectilinear, whereby upon grasping and tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stifiness adjacent said top edge said contour edges serve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said stifiening member to said material.

4. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness, said material extending substantially completely about all sides of the package and at the top end, said package further comprising a stiffening member associated with said material at said sides and at said top end to impart strength and rigidity to the package, said stifl'ening member having contour edges extending at an angle relative to one another, said contour edges being disposed at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges being disposed adjacent to one edge of said top end and at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges intersecting one another substantially coincident with an edge of the package, whereby upon grasping and tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stifiness adjacent said top edge said contour edges serve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said stiffening member to saidmaterial.

5. In combination, a package comprising .said top end top end of the package being cut away to have 7 its contour edge spaced from said top edge whereby upon grasping and tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stillness adjacent said top edge said contour edges serve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said stifi'ening member to said material.

6. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness, said material extending substantially completely about all sides of the package and at the top end, said package further comprising a stiffening member associated with said material at said sides and at said top end to impart strength and rigidity to the package, said stiffening member having contour edges extending at an angle relative to one another, said contour edges being disposed at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges being disposed adjacent to one edge of and at two adjacent sides of the package, said contour edges intersecting one another substantially coincident with an edge of the package, said stifi'ening member at said top end of the package being cut away to have its contour edge spaced from said top edge whereby upon grasping and tearing a portion of said material of little inherent stiffness adjacent said top edge said contour edges serve to define the path of tearing, and means for securing said stifi'ening member to said material.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification this 10th day of October, 1929.

HARRY H. STRAUS.

A material possessing little inherent stifiness,

said. material extending substantially completely about all sides of the package and at the top end, said package further comprising a stiffening member associated with said material at said sides and at said top end to impart strength and rigidity to the package,

' said stifiening member having contour edges 

